Fighting
by Astral Ascension
Summary: While Reborn goes to Italy for a month, and Tsuna's guardians are off doing their own thing, the boy gets cornered my Mukuro. The illusionist comes to take what he desires the most; Tsuna's body. Can the young Vongola regain control of his body, or will it it a futile battle?
1. Cornered

A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first story, so go easy on me! xD I really hope you guys enjoy and that it doesn't have TOO many mistakes! I'll probably get a friend to beta the next chapter, so I'm excited about that! ^-^ Anyways, enjoy and remember to R&R!

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.

"Hey, Tsuna!" Yamamoto called out to the brunette. "Good morning, Juudaime!" Gokudera greeted happily. "Good morning," Tsuna looked like he just woke up. The two guardians searched, but couldn't find Reborn. "Well let's get going. We wouldn't want to see an angry Hibari," The baseball player chuckled. "Tch. I'll kill him if he lays a hand on Juudaime," The silver haired teen balled his fists, starting to walk off, nevertheless. Tsuna smiled at that, also walking with his friends. The brunette lingered a few paces behind his friends, laughing as Gokudera argued with the other. On the way to school, Tsuna's hyper intuition acted up; he stopped abruptly, trying to find out why he was feeling paranoid. The two guardians noticed his change in demeanor, turning around to see what happened. "Juudaime! What happened?" Gokudera was at Tsuna's side, looking around the vicinity. Then, just as quickly as it had started, it stopped; the hyper intuition sensed nothing. Tsuna lightened up, staring. What had just happened? "Oh nothing…My hyper intuition was acting weird. I don't think it was anything anyways…" The boy sounded unsure of himself. It was odd. Something was wrong, that's for sure. His hyper intuition was almost always right, and he relied on it some of the times, but this time, Tsuna hoped that it was wrong. "Haha, don't act like that! You got us worried there for a second!" Yamamoto laughed. "Shut it, baseball freak. You don't know if he's okay! Juudaime, are you sure you're completely fine?" The bomber was worried for the young Vongola. "Yeah, thanks for worrying for me though. We really should get to school now though…" Tsuna headed forward onto school.

"Herbivores, you're late." An annoyed voice sighed. "Haha, well we kind of got caught up with things…" Yamamoto tried to explain to Hibari as to why they were late. "There are no excuses for this. I'll bite you to death," The prefect whipped out his tonfas and took a stance. Immediately, Gokudera jumped in front of Tsuna and readied his dynamite. "Ah, Hibari. I'm sorry!" Tsuna stepped to the side of Gokudera and slightly bowed. "Tch. Whatever. I don't have time for you herbivores anyways." The prefect stored his weapons and walked off. "Ah, good thing Hibari didn't bite us to death," Relief was apparent in the brunette's voice. "Don't worry, Juudaime! I wouldn't let that bastard do anything to you!" "Thanks, Gokudera…" Tsuna trailed off, noticing a change in the atmosphere around him.

"Sawada, can you answer this question?" His teacher purposely called on the distant brunette, seeing as he wasn't paying attention. "Huh? Oh," Tsuna scrunched his eyes at the board, the jumble of numbers foreign to him. "Eh…42?" The teacher sighed. "No, it's not 42. Blindly guessing won't help." Murmurs of "As expected of Dame-Tsuna" and "Of course, it's Dame-Tsuna" Were heard around the room. Looking away again, Tsuna thought that he could barely see a sudden movement in the tree. It wasn't on of an animal, which was for sure. And the presence…It was familiar, but something about it was off.

It was lunch now, and Tsuna and his friends took their regular seat on the roof. "Juudaime, I noticed that something was wrong with you during class! You looked like something was bothering you, like this morning! I wish that you would tell me what's going on! As your right-hand man, I deserve to know!" Gokudera exclaimed. "Ah, it's nothing to worry about! It's just my Hyper Intuition! But it's fine. Nothing's wrong, I promise." The brunette tried to assure his friends. "But Juudaime-" "Gokudera, really. Nothing's wrong." Tsuna's voice was sharper than usual. The bomber remained silent. Hoping to break the awkward silence, Yamamoto spoke up "Well it's a great day, huh? Actually, where's Reborn? I haven't seen him anytime today. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him either…" Gokudera looked around. "Yesterday, he said he had some matters to take care of in Italy. Reborn said that he'd be back sometime next month…" Tsuna trailed off as if trying to recollect what the Arcobaleno had said to him. "Did he say anything about what he was going to do?" The base-ball player inquired. "No. He just said that he needed to do something, would be back sometime next month, and then left." The rest of lunch was fairly quiet; no talk other than the occasional questions on the topic of school.

While the group of friends were walking home, they were greeted by a certain violet-haired female. Gokudera ran in front of Chrome and demanded "What do you want?" Taken aback by the silver-haired teenager, she talked in a quiet voice "Murkuro-sama wanted me to warn you…" She trailed off. "Warn us about what, Chrome?" She looked up to see Tsuna smiling warmly at her. "Warn _you _that something dreadful is about to happen. Murkuro-sama wanted me to tell Boss that he should be on his guard and fight back, or else the game won't be fun…" Chrome, after finishing her last sentence, vanished. "Hey!" Gokudera yelled. "Hey! What game? What are you talking about?" "Gokudera, Chrome's gone…" Tsuna stared at the space that the purple-haired girl was recently in. "Hey, Tsuna, what game do you think Chrome's talking about?" The base-ball player asked. "I don't know-" The young Vongola was cut off by Gokudera "It doesn't matter! Whatever Pineapple-Head's planning, it can't be good! Don't worry, Juudaime! I'll protect you no matter what!" Tsuna didn't answer to that. _"What game is Chrome talking about? What does Mukuro have planned?" _The boy thought to himself, still pondering on the illusionist's words.

The rest of the way home was mostly silent; the three friends were thinking about what Chrome had said. They waved their farewells and parted; Tsuna walking into his home. "Hello, Mama, everyone. I'm home," The brunette called out to the members of his family. "Welcome home, Tsu-kun!" "Tsuna-nii!" There were greetings from his mom, and children (Bianchi had left with Reborn to Italy). "I'm heading to my room now," "Okay! I'll call you down when dinner's ready!" Tsuna's mother's voice was warm and relieving and the boy loved to hear it; it took his mind off the stress that was about to renter him when he was alone.

In his room, the young Vongola felt an emptiness; without Reborn, there was really nothing to do. He would have been hanging out with his friends, but now, the boy just wanted to talk to his tutor about what Chrome had said. Surely the Arcobaleno would have some kind of solution to what the Mist Guardian had said. But Reborn _wasn't _here, and there was no way to contact him, which left Tsuna empty-handed.

The next few days passed without any kind of disruption; a rare thing to happen. Tsuna talked liked normal with his fellow guardians and they nearly forgot about the incident with Chrome. Nearly forgot. Every now and then, Tsuna's mind would wander off and think about what the Mist Guardian had spoken. He would try to forget about it, though in his mind, Tsuna knew that it wasn't the best choice. In all reality, he wanted to forget about it until Reborn came from Italy; there was no reason to ponder about a matter he couldn't help. Although Tsuna tried to forget about the incident, there was still that presence that constantly pestered him. It wasn't even a strong presence; it was barely noticeable, but was enough to make the young Vongola go insane. He wanted it to go away, but also was curious as to who or what it belonged to. Something about it was familiar, but the boy couldn't pinpoint what. He had an idea that it had something to do with Mukuro. No, he _knew _that it had something to do with the illusionist, but what? Mukuro was making his presence obviously noticeable to Tsuna; he could easily hide his presence if he decided to do so, but no. The violet-haired illusionist decided to make sure that Tsuna, and Tsuna alone knew he was there. His intentions as to why he was doing that were unknown, though.

The constant aura nearby Tsuna lasted until there were only seven days before the Arcobaleno would get back. The boy was walking home alone (Yamamoto was at base-ball practice and Gokudera wasn't feeling well; Tsuna took nearly an hour to convince Gokudera to stay home) before noticing a strong rising in the presence. The source of the aura appeared a few meters in front of Tsuna. The young Vongola jumped back, his Hyper Intuition telling him to run; he disregarded this though. A man known by the name Mukuro materialized, lips curled up into a sinister smirk. "Good afternoon, Sawada Tsunayoshi. It's a fancy meeting you here…" The illusionist chuckled before glaring at the boy. "Wh-Wha do you want, M-Mukuro?" Tsuna tried to put on a defiant act, but ended up sound cowardly. "The same thing I've always wanted with you. This time though, I'm sure to get it. There is no Arcobaleno to stop me, and you seem to be alone right now…" The Mist Guardian advanced forward, causing the younger of the two to step back…Right into a wall. "First off, let's go where no one will disturb us," Mukuro murmured, almost to himself and cast some sort of illusion spell around them. "Now, Sawada Tsunayoshi, I believe that that body of yours now belongs to me…" The illusionist chuckled, flashing a twisted grin at the young Vongola before reaching a hand at Tsuna's chest.

A/N: Well this is the first chapter! If you enjoyed it, please remember to R&R so I know that people are enjoying it! I want to write more of this because I like the idea, but if you guys don't review, I'll think that you don't like it! :)

-Astral Ascension


	2. Lost Battle

**A/N: **Hey everyone! I'm back! Sorry it took so long to upload this; I had to finish an English project last weekend, and had to study for final exams!... . BUT I'M BACK NOW! ^o^ I probably won't be uploading until next year; I'm visiting my relatives, and I'm bringing my lap-top, but I don't know how much I'll be writing there! Also, I'm planning to start writing a "Legend of Zelda" fanfiction, if any of you are interested. Another thing; I'm changing the rating to "M" just because later in the story, it might get pretty violent, and language is also a factor. Well, without further ado, let's begin! :)

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. **

"_Now, Sawada Tsunayoshi, I believe that that body of yours now belongs to me…" The illusionist chuckled, flashing a twisted grin at the young Vongola before reaching a hand at Tsuna's chest. _

"Eh?" Tsuna questioned worryingly.

"You heard me; I've come to gain control of your body," the illusionist had a blood lusty expression as he drove his hand through the younger's chest. The Vongola widened his eyes, gasping.

"Stop…" Tsuna panted, barely audible.

"Kufufu, I can't do that," Mukuro was laughing. Soon, the child stopped struggling, his body now limp.

"Good. His soul wasn't too hard to break…" the illusionist chuckled demonically. As soon as he thought that, as if on cue, a bright flame erupted from the young Vongola's head.

"Tch. I thought it was odd that he didn't fight back before." Mukuro quickly muttered a few word, expanding their battleground. Looking forward, the purple haired man saw brilliant golden eyes glaring at him.

"I don't think that I really want to give you my body, actually," Tsuan spoke, monotone. Defiance was shining in the boy's eyes.

"In all honesty, I don't really care. Regardless of whether you give me your body, or I have to forcibly take it, it _will_ be in my possession sooner or later."

Mukuro could hear the boy mutter "cocky bastard," before seeing Tsuna charge at him. As a reaction, the illusionist used an illusion of an earthquake. The gullible boy pushed off of the ground and flew into the air, looking down for Mukuro. He was saw the man chuckling.

"So I guess that you'll make this fun for me."

"If by fun, you mean me defeating you, then yes."

Tsuna flew at Mukuro at such a speed that the man shouldn't have been able to see him. The illusionist, though, surprisingly saw through the speed and swiftly dodged out of the way.

"Your moves are slow, Tsunayoshi," the purple haired man grinned, grasping the brunet's right ankle as he flew past Mukuro. "Foolish child," Mukuro hissed as he whipped his arm around. Tsuna crashed into a nearby wall, and debris flew everywhere.

"Ugh…" the boy moaned in pain, starts flooding his vision. Tsuna stood up, leaning against a wall to reorientate himself. Mukuro took advantage of the situation and, without the young Vongola seeing, transformed the symbol on his right eye into a horizontal line representing the kanji numeral one. As soon as the purple haired man did that, a humanoid figure shadow warped into the world. The only thing that the shadow had that was distinctive was its crimson colored eyes. The rest of it was the color of the void: black. It had some features, though, such as the twisted grin on its face. It was also duel- wielding a scythe. As soon as the creature fully materialized, it lunged towards the still dizzy teenager.

"AH!" Tsuna cried out as soon as the shadow made contact with his skin. The weapon almost instantaneously broke the boy's skin, causing a crimson red liquid to ooze from the wound. The young Vongola tried as hard as he could to keep on an emotionless face, but try as he might, there was a hint of pain and worry that made the illusionist chuckle.

Tsuna jumped to the side, barely missing a blow to the hip flexor. The first injury was located on the sternum, resulting in the boy wincing in pain with every movement. This wound changed a lot of things; the brunet was more sluggish in his actions, and he was barely avoiding the swift attacks the shadow was making. The wound itself wasn't really bad; not a lot of blood was spilling, and it didn't seem to be fatal, but at the rate of how this battle was going, it definitely could turn out to be.

Minutes passed, and the only thing that was happening was that Tsuna was wearing himself out. In the duration of the battle, the boy had received an injury to the sternum that probably needed medical attention, though it was not urgent, and various minor cuts and injuries. The brunet's breaths came out short and ragged. This amused Mukuro; The boy, who Reborn, the number one hit man in the world, thought held so much potential, couldn't even stand up to an illusion. How funny.

And then, the teenager did something that surprised the purple haired man. He ran away. The boy was out of sight, but Mukuro could still sense him, seeing as this was his illusion. Mukuro might have been able to sense the boy, but not know what he was exactly doing. Tsuna's position was peculiar to the illusionist; he wasn't so far away that they couldn't see each other, but wasn't close enough to where it would be easy to land an attack on either one of them. What exactly was the boy planning?...

Then it hit him; the X-Burner. Mukuro had seen that move multiple times, and he knew it's deadly extent of power. He also knew, though, that it took quite a bit of time to charge up. Although in normal circumstances, it wasn't too much time, in battle, especially in a one .vs. one, time was crucial. A mere five seconds wasted could result in a would-be-victory to instant death. And Tsuna's X-Burner wasn't kind in those circumstances. This was extremely dangerous. Either the boy was extremely stupid or courageous: probably both, though. Mukuro smirked, changing the symbol on his eye to one of the kanji numeral three, which is represented by three horizontal lines. When that happened, a snake materialized. It was brown, and had even darker brown spots on it. The snake hissed and coiled its tail. The illusionist grinned while the reptile slithered off towards where the brunet was at.

Tsuna was paying very close to sense dying will, so it made him a perfect target to attacks from anything that doesn't contain a dying will, such as a snake. The reptile snuck up behind the brunet and hissed, interrupting the charging of the X-Burner. Tsuna turned around, surprise flooding his face at the sight of the snake. Without another second to spare, the reptile lunged forward at lightning speed. Because the young Vongola was in shock from the sudden appearance of the reptile, he couldn't dodge out of the way of the attack. As soon as its fangs broke through Tsuna's fragile skin, the boy cried out and pried the snake off of his neck. He killed it immediately and threw it on the floor. The boy collapsed to the floor and caressed his neck; the venom was spreading quickly and Tsuna's vision was turning blurry.

As Mukuro stole across the floor, he got into the range of where he could see the brunet's encounter with the snake. It was amusing, to say the least. The boy's futile struggle to stay conscious was so very fun to watch. Tsuna's eyes fluttered open and close before staying closed. The last thing he saw was Mukuro's smirking face and his eyes staring directly at the boy's.

\"See, Tsunayoshi? You're not able to defeat me," the purple haired man discarded the illusion, placing Tsuna and him into reality again. Mukuro lifted the young Vongola up and placed him over his shoulder. The illusionist then started walking towards a deserted area. Not where Ken, Chikusa, and Chrome resided, but to where no one was.

When he got there, the illusionist placed Tsuna down on a patch of grass. The boy stirred, but did not was, although it looked like he was going to very soon. Mukuro, once again, penetrated the boy's chest with his left hand. Tsuna's back arched and his lips opened, as if crying out in pain, but the screams were silent.

After a few moments of this, the man felt his soul being transferred from his vessel to the boy's. Finally. Finally, the thing that the illusionist wanted most was being fulfilled.

It was dark. Nothing but darkness was present. Tsuna look around, but couldn't see anything. That is, until a light emerged from far away. The boy, by instinct, started sprinting towards the light. It got closer, and closer before being blocked by a tall figure. The figure resembled a man, but it was just a shadow.

"Who are you?" the brunet questioned, staring at the figure.

"Kufufu, don't tell me that you don't remember me!" a familiar voice chuckled. Tsuna immediately recognized it as Mukuro.

"MUKURO! Where the hell are we?" the young Vongola stepped forward in an attempt to intimidate the older man. It was a failed effort though, as the shadow just stood still, not even flinching.

"We're in your soul, Tsuna."

"What? My soul? Impossible! If we're actually in my soul, then how the hell did you get here?"

"_It was easy. You didn't put up much of a resistance; the venom from that snake really injured you." _

They talked, the boy getting more frightened as time passed, and the shadow getting more amused.

"Now, Tsunayoshi, how about we play a little game? You can still redeem your body, but you'll need help from your comrades. The thing is, though, is that _I'm_ in control of your body right now, so you'll need different means of communicating with them. They might even be perceptive enough so that they notice that you're not you," had Mukuro's face been visible, he would, no doubt, been grinning.

"...Fine," Tsuna reluctantly agreed, sounding defeated.

"Good…I _promise _you that this'll be fun!" the illusionist laughed, dissipating. Although he left, the light was gone, and Tsuna was left alone with nothing to guide him as of what he was suppose to do next. The only thing that the boy noticed was his Hyper Intuition was acting up, and the feeling of dread was overwhelming his senses.

Thanks for reading! :D I really hope that you guys enjoyed it! Excuse me for my grammar mistakes, as I have yet to get a beta-reader. Q.Q Anyways, please remember to review, as it makes me very happy! ^-^ Well, have a good holiday, everyone! 3

-Astral Ascension


	3. Visitor

**A/N: **Hey guys, I'm back! I know that it's been a long time, but I've been SO busy lately, not to mention that I had a bad case of writer's block and probably rewrote this chapter about 5 times. ._. But it's okay, because I've gotten over the writer's block and I'm back on track now. I also made this chapter extra long. :D Oh, when I put * next to a word, I have something to say about it at the end of the chapter in my author note, just so you know. :)

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. **

_"Good…I promise you that this'll be fun!" the illusionist laughed, dissipating. Although he left, the light was gone, and Tsuna was left alone with nothing to guide him as of what he was suppose to do next. The only thing that the boy noticed was his Hyper Intuition was acting up, and the feeling of dread was overwhelming his senses._

**Chapter Three**

Tsuna was at a loss.

He didn't know what to do.

Reborn, as sporadic as he is, usually was the one who helped the brunet solve his problems. This time, though, Tsuna felt alone. He knew that the Arcobaleno gone, and hoped for his arrival back; if anyone could see that Tsuna wasn't Tsuna, it would be Reborn.

That would be nearly seven days. Seven days to allow Mukuro to dominate his body. Seven days that the illusionist could utilize in order to change people's views on the brunet, and obtain exclusive information on the Vongola. Information that could easily be used to destroy the organization, if used properly.

Impatience soon overtook the young Vongola as he hastily started running around the vicinity he was in, determined to locate some sort of exit or waypoint. He wasn't expecting to find any, and unfortunately, his expectations were true. Lost in the void, Tsuna tried calling out to his purple-haired assailant, "Mukuro! I know that you can hear me!"

The brunet was surprised when he heard a voice, "You called?"

"If this is my soul, like you claimed, then why can't I find a way out? I _should _be able to control what goes on, right?" Tsuna scoffed the words, trying to sound as harsh as possible.

The illusionist didn't seem fazed by the teen's demeanor, "Yes, it is your soul, but I'm invading it right now. Here, I'll try to explain it so even someone like you can understand. A single vessel, or body, can hold a single soul. I infiltrated your vessel, which was occupied by you previously, causing in a lack of space for the both of us. It's only fair that the more powerful soul takes control of the body. You can't very well leave your body, considering your soul is bound to it, albeit with some exceptions. Ultimately, you can't leave, but you have no dominance whatsoever in your actions. Imagine yourself a puppet," Mukuro's tone grew more sinister, and no doubt about it, there was a grin on his face, or in this case, Tsuna's face.

"I-I see…Earlier, you said something along the lines of my friends noticing that something happened to me. If they did happen to notice, then what could they do to kick you out of my body?" there was a childish curiosity in the brunet's voice.

"You expect me to tell you that much? I'm not anywhere _near_ thatgullible. Besides, considering your circumstances, you're lucky that I decided to tell you anything at all. I could easily kill you now, you know. Without even destroying your body. I could take it all for myself, but that would be a bit selfish, wouldn't you agree? And letting things play out like this is much more fun, not to mention that if I killed you, that would make the Vongola family very much disagreeable to me. At least I have a hostage in order to prevent them from outright assassinating me," if possible, the happy tone in Mukuro's voice rose more so. And the frightened look on Tsuna's face urged the illusionist to tell him more about his plans, just to startle the child, but sheer common sense prevented him from doing that. "Another thing before I leave; you'll be able to hear, see, smell, taste, and feel what I'm able to, considering I give you the permission to," and with that, the macabre presence of the man vanished.

Tsuna's knees gave way, and the boy collapsed onto the floor, entire body trembling in trepidation. The brunet's breathing was heavy and ragged, and it was starting to get difficult to breathe, in fact.

Eventually, the young Vongola realized that this wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he imagined what Reborn would make him do in this situation. "Probably scold me for letting my body get taken over so easily," Tsuna chuckled bitterly. Gnawing on him bottom lip, Tsuna decided to try and summon up flames. Nothing came out of doing that, and he quickly found out that it was a futile effort. Pondering on what to do, a voice entered his mind.

_Tsunayoshi._

Snapping his head up, the brunet surveyed the area, but found nothing. The boy stopped looking, but was always vigilant. Who could that voice have belonged to?...It sure sounded familiar.

_Tsunayoshi…_

The voice rang again, alarming the brunet. Tsuna was starting to become paranoid; the voice was getting louder, and seemingly closer, but at the same time, it was in his mind, so how could it get closer? Slightly irritated, Tsuna looked around again, but it looked the same as before, albeit the boy swore that he saw _something _move in the distance. No, something _had _moved in the distance, the young Vongola was sure of it.

Before Tsuna could move forward, though, a blinding light erupted, surrounding the brunet. He looked away, not used to the light, but when the brightness had diminished, the boy was not greeted with darkness, but a scenery.

"So, Tsuna, what do you think of this feat?" Mukuro's voice echoed from inside his mind.

Jaw dropping open, the brunet didn't answer, but his silence was more than enough of an antiphon for the illusionist. The breeze felt nice against the boy's skin, seeing as he was in an area with absolutely no wind. He could also smell the pleasant scent of greenery, and hear the bird's chime. Tsuna took in all of these changes happily, glad to have at least something returned to him.

Tsuna recognized this as the road leading to his house. He saw from his own eyes, but could not control where they looked or what his body did, but total domination of his body wasn't expected anytime soon.

As Mukuro arrived to the brunet's house, he gave a slight chortle before entering the building.

"Mom! I'm home!" a voice called out, echoing throughout the hallways of the vicinity. Tsuna gave a slight gasp as he heard his voice being enunciated, but not by the himself.

The welcoming tone of the brunet's mother reverberated from the kitchen, "Welcome back, Tsu-kun*! You're home rather late tonight; were you out playing with your cute boyfriends?" there was a sugary tone in his mom's voice. It seemed that she was cooking up dinner for the large family; Tsuna could faintly notice the scent of some sort of cooked meat.

"Wha-! Mom, they're not my boyfriends! I was went to go get some groceries for you, but then I realized that I forgot to bring my wallet…" the voice admitted sheepishly. The real Tsuna widened his eyes at that statement; the façade that Mukuro was putting on was eminently accurate. Upon realizing that, the brunet's hopes dropped. He had wanted the visage to be erroneous, or something close to that so _someone _could spot the blunder, albeit the way things were going now, it wasn't going to be anytime soon.

"Okay, whatever you say, sweetie! Just know that if you decide that one of them is right for you, then I'll be willing to accept whoever he is!"

"M-MOM!" Tsuna's voice stuttered, "Uhm, well, I'm g-going to be in my room, mom…"

"I'll call you down for dinner, honey!"

"O-okay," the still flustered voice called back. 'Tsuna' rushed upstairs and quietly closed the door to the room that he was in. "So what did you think of my performance? Quite veritable, wouldn't you agree?" now, the voice had reverted back to its original voice, and it was quite presumptuous.

"H-how did you know so much…" Tsuna's volume turned inaudible, but it was quite clear of what he wanted to say. The boy's dismayed voice pleased the illusionist.

"It was easy, to be honest. I sent illusions out after you – illusions that you couldn't sense with your dying will – and I ordered them to track you, and report back with what information they had. You're an extremely predictable boy, which made following your movements exceptionally easy. It only took about a month to completely understand what you'll do in certain situations. You noticed me a few times, though, remember?" the illusionist's jovial voice sneered.

Recalling the memories of when his dying will suddenly went out of control, he mentally kicked himself for not being more vigilant and ignoring the presence that should have been dealt with. "Even so, Reborn's going to notice that I'm even a little bit different," theeriness. that the small man would perceive the change in the boy's demeanor.

"You're giving him too much credit, boy. He may be the number one hit-man in the world, but at the end of the day, he's still human, and humans make mistakes, and one of those is trusting. You may not see it, but you're one of the people that that imprudent man puts his faith in, and believe me, he doesn't have very many people that he trusts. I'll tell him a legitimate lie, and he'll get off of my case. And even if he doesn't, when I _do _tell the truth, he wouldn't stand to hurt me with you being in here," a sinister tone crept its way into Mukuro's voice.

"You bastard. It doesn't matter what you do, Reborn will find out about this, and he'll eradicate you without harming me. I'm not giving him too much credit, you're just underestimating him. I'm sure that he'll easily take you out," Tsuna didn't know why he was enraged by the fact that the illusionist practically stated that Reborn was subpar compared to him, but it made Tsuna mad, furious to put it more accurately.

"You seem a bit fazed by what I said about your favorite tutor," the poisonous voice smirked, "he's obviously a failure of a tutor if he can't mentor his student to go a month without him. Or maybe you're just becoming clingy, and you're starting to live life depending on him." Irritating Tsuna was just too fun; the illusionist couldn't help it.

"MUKURO! You godamn bastard!" Tsuna immediately retorted, absolutely livid. "Don't just think that you're going to get away with all of your bull-shit; the Vongola is much stronger than you anticipated, and no matter how strong you are, you're no match for them. Actually, no. You're not even close to being able to defeat Reborn! You're just a cocky little bastard who has no limit to his audacity," the boy scoffed, nearly yelling in a blind rage.

_Tsunayoshi…_

The voice spoke again. This time, though, it was much louder, and much more lucid. Tsuna took no notice of the voice, his bloodlust for Mukuro increasing by the second. Why, though? Tsuna was never a boy who took pleasure in someone else's pain, but this time, he wanted to see the illusionist choking in his own blood, pleading for his life to be spared. As soon as that thought occurred, a scene visualized in the brunet's mind. It was much too dark to really see the details, but the surprised boy could make out that he was in a chamber of some sorts. It was fairly big, and had 2 torches poorly illuminating the room, just adding to its eeriness. What really caught the young Vongola's eyes, however, was the slim figure in front of him.

Tsuna could see that the figure was wearing white robes. Its attire made it impossible to see anything other than parts of its face. The boy could faintly make out strands of white hair sprawled across the figure's forehead, covering its eyes. The stature of the humanoid creature was well beyond Tsuna's, probably standing at a little more than 6 feet tall.

The point of this was to scare Tsuna, in which case it was working splendidly, or something else, which in that case, unknown. The brunet really hoped that it was _just _to scare him.

If it was fear that the creature was hoping to accomplish, then it could have done that with just its smile. The malevolent way that it curled its lips in was horrific. Just that alone could have petrified Tsuna, but unfortunately, the boy didn't think that it was just here to scare him.

_"Hello, Tsunayoshi,"_ a callous voice spoke. It was familiar, very much familiar, but who did it belong to?

The brunet didn't respond back, not because he didn't have a reply, oh no, he had _many_ questions, but because he was much too pusillanimous to respond.

"_Oh, come on, Tsunayoshi. What's the matter? Are you at a loss of words?_" it chuckled, the emptiness of it reverberating throughout the room. It took a large step forward, closing the gap between the two considerably.

Instinctively, Tsuna tried to get as much distance as he could from the approaching figure, but panicked when he met the wall behind him.

"_What's wrong? Do I frighten you?_"

There was still no response from the boy.

The figure stopped and charged forward suddenly, almost instantaneously reaching its target. Surprised at the suddenness of a foreign presence invading Tsuna's space, the boy tried to push the figure away, but to no avail; the humanoid figure stood its ground firmly. The young Vongola didn't even try to see who it actually was, more concerned in the fact that he was almost pressing up against it.

The brunet abruptly ceased his shoving when the figure placed both its hands on either side of the child's shoulders.

Tsuna felt its head lower down next to the boy's right ear where it whispered in a chilling voice, "_Tsunayoshi. I am nothing to be afraid of. I know what your darkest desires are,_" the voice hushed more so, ascending closer to the brunet's ear, his lips brushing unintentionally against it. This action resulted in the young Vongola trembling uncontrollably as he started breathing raggedly from the creature's touch. "_I know that you want to hurt Mukuro. Everything that he's done to you. He insulted Reborn, and took over your body, and he's planning to do more. And all you can do is watch and suffer as slowly, his plan becomes true and the Vongola family is no more. He wants you to believe that you can't do anything about it, but truth is, you can. Trust me, and I'll give you the power to relinquish him. I promise. I can fulfill your every desire, and all you have to do is accept me. It's as simple as that, so what do you say, Tsunayoshi?_" the voice finished. The creature ran its tongue up Tsuna's ear, causing the boy to tense up considerably. The sudden feeling of warmth on the brunet's ear was oddly sensual. It pulled back, and ran its long, slender fingers down the boy's face, pausing for a moment to caress his face, and the proceeding forward to tilt the chin upwards so Tsuna could clearly see the man.

Upon seeing the face, Tsuna widened his eyes. He couldn't believe that it was _him _of all people. "Byakuran…"

**A/N: **Cliffhanger!Well, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! Again, sorry for the delay. If there were any errors in the story, please tell me. :) Okay, so I put the * because I wanted to point something out. I know that a lot of people don't like it when someone puts –sama, -kun, -san, etc. in fanfictions. I usually don't prefer this sort of stuff, but I feel that Tsuna's mom isn't really using it. I mean, she is, but it's because it's Tsuna's nickname, not because she wanted to be formal or informal or anything like that. I'm just pointing that out! Well R&R please! I'll try and update sooner next time, guys! ^-^

-Astral Ascension


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